The sun had risen in the outside world but the cell remained cold and dark. The station doors had been opened ten minutes ago but the hustle inside hadn't begun. The lights were dimmed, allowing a handful of cops to rest a few minutes before preparing for their presumably long day ahead. 

In the corner of the second-last jail cell sat Levi. Ever so often, he felt his eyelids become heavy and hoped that his body would give up and he could have a peaceful sleep. However, whenever his back, covered by a thin black tee, touched the floor, his eyes shot wide and the tiredness left. 

All the times that he had left an assignment due for the last day, seven hours felt too little and he'd think the world was against him. Now, at 6:40 a.m., seven hours after his arrest, time couldn't have traveled slower. He tried to find solace by counting every tick of the enormous analog clock but the snores of the police disrupted even that. 

If he didn't know better, he'd think his conscience enjoyed playing tricks with him; hallucinating images of his father breaking through the locked doors in the dead of night to pay the police off and take him home. Alas, there was a time for everything and the right time hadn't come. 

At seven, the chatter among the police began and Levi felt relatively less alone. The lights shone brighter and the barest amounts of sunlight made its way toward the corner of the cell, where Levi sat. He wanted to crawl towards the bars and bathe in as much sunlight as he was allowed. However, seeing the bars in such close proximity, he felt even more locked up. Eventually, he decided to stay where he was and avoid the judgemental glances from the police as much as possible. 

The entire night, he had tried disconnecting himself from his body. He tried to picture himself elsewhere and tried to believe that none of this was real. However, as sleep kept distancing itself from him, he couldn't avoid the reality of the situation. As every minute passed excruciatingly slowly, he hoped he could just cry and get it over with. 

The tears never came. 

Voices pulled him back from his repetitive thoughts. He hoped he wasn't hallucinating and that someone had actually said his name as the police talked to them. A few minutes later, scurrying footsteps came his way, and this time, he didn't shy away from the bars; he ran toward them. 

"Levi!" Evelyn exclaimed as she stood as close to the bars as she could. 

Within a few beats, he saw Alec appear in front of him. His jaw was shut tight, unwilling to speak to Levi. However, his eyes showed worry and the look of concern made all of Levi's trouble disappear. 

"Dad," he said, waiting for a reply. 

"I don't know what you're thinking, Levi. Running out of the house during house arrest? It's like you were asking for this," Alec replied, his cold words holding no malice. 

Evelyn shot Levi a guilty look which he acknowledged vaguely. His focus was still on his father, whom he hadn't talked to for a long time. 

"I'm sorry dad," Levi said, "At first, I was genuinely sick and went to the hospital. However, After the police dropped me off at home, I couldn't help it."

"Help what?" his father asked, unable to see the logic behind his actions. 

"You don't know a lot of what's going on-" Levi began. 

"Does it really matter now? No reason you say is going to bring that bail money down," Evelyn interrupted, shooting a knowing frown at him. 

"What bail money?" Levi asked. 

"I got an e-mail a few minutes before we came here. The amount needed to be paid to bring you out is seventy-five thousand dollars," Alec said and Levi's face froze. 

"It could be worse, but it really isn't what we'd hope for either. My team back at the office are working on dates for a hearing so that we can give your story and hope they reduce the amount but nothing set in stone yet," Evelyn said. 

"You don't understand, Evie. I lost a lot of money recently. So much so that I regret retiring this early. Six months ago, I slipped off the stairs at a meeting for potential work I can do without taking cases again. It appears giving advice is not enough, especially when I want to live this luxurious lifestyle. After the meeting, while I was walking down the stair, I slipped and fractured my spine. My health insurance had just expired and since I hadn't got the time to renew it, I had to pay the bills by myself. 

"Now, with Levi's case, not only did I have to pay the lawyer charges, but I also pulled a lot of strings to keep him at home. After the accident, I couldn't meet as many people and give them advice as I used to and I only just started doing that recently. I mean, how could I have possibly warranted for bail money after I went through so much to keep him at home? He just finds a way to screw things up and now, I can't give away that amount without it being a huge setback." Alec said. 

Levi's mind wasn't on the words coming out of Alec's mouth. Instead, it was studying Evelyn's face, looking for any signs of unease, hoping that she had let Alec's words drown. He was also hoping that she hadn't caught the look of shame on his face, something he seemed to be feeling a lot lately. 

"I never understood why you retired early when you could have worked for much longer. When I saw you throw your money around for Levi's case, I assumed you were doing just fine. You know what? Let's just think of another way to get Levi out of jail," Evelyn said, confidence booming. 

"But he escaped house arrest-" Alec began. 

"I understand, uncle. But keeping him in jail will only solidify that fact and the final case will be much harder. We need him out," Evelyn said, "if push comes to shove, I'll pay whatever you can't."

"No way," Alec replied bluntly. 

"Why not? I don't mind doing it for him and besides-" Evelyn began. 

"Just no, Evie. I know what it's like, spending all my money on him, hoping it would help him. I've been doing that ever since the case started and where has that landed me?" Alec asked. 

Hearing that, Levi couldn't help but feel more guilty than he had before. He couldn't help but think how he had become the reason behind all of his father's misfortunes, whether directly or indirectly. 

"Calm down, uncle. How about you go out and take a breath? I need to talk to Levi about some things anyway," Evelyn said. 

"Why, so he can convince you to pay for his bail?" Alec asked gruffly. 

"Not this again," Evelyn said, sighing, "just go out. I'll talk to Levi and make him understand."

Hesitantly, Alec moved away from the bars. He looked at Levi and although he was still filled with worry, he couldn't help but think if Levi deserved it. He turned his back and walked away, leaving Evelyn and Levi alone as she finally heaved a shaky breath she had been holding throughout their conversation. 

"I'm sorry about this," she said, pointing at the bars. 

"That's fine. Besides, I did hear you say that you'd pay for me to get out," he said lightheartedly. 

He looked at her warm eyes and hoped words weren't required to show her how much those words meant to him. She was young and probably didn't even have that amount of money but the fact that she was even willing to do so made his stomach flutter. 

"It's the least I can do. I got everything from Addy last night so you're saving my ass right now. It's only fair if I do the same," she said, her voice breaking a little. 

Levi looked worried, "don't cry, if that's what you were going to do," he said awkwardly. 

Evelyn chuckled, rubbing her eyes before the tears could fall, "not now I won't."

He grabbed her hand for which a police he hadn't even noticed before rebuked him. Quickly, he let go of it but his eyes stared at the spot where their hands made contact. 

"You know," Evelyn began, "I noticed the shame in your eyes when your father talked about you wasting all his money."

"It's all my fault," Levi said. 

"I know," she replied. 

Levi, who was taken aback, stared at her, waiting for her to elaborate.

"I never pushed you to tell me what Andrea had against you since you never pushed me. However, now is the time," Evelyn said. 

"Listen, Evelyn-" he started. 

"I know you don't want to tell anyone because it makes you feel shitty so let me tell you. Or at least, let me guess. If this is a stretch then I apologize, but did you have anything to do with your father's accident?" she said. 

Levi paused. He tried to stand straight and look tall but his spine crumbled as the words escaped her lips. He didn't have to say a word - his body had given itself away. 

"It wasn't supposed to become such a big deal! He was just pissing me off and I wanted to hurt him as much as he had hurt me. I regretted it immediately, I promise," he said, but Evelyn didn't let him finish. 

"I can see why you wanted to keep that a secret but I can't believe you thought getting blamed for arson was better than that," Evelyn said. 

"I didn't! At first, I was only supposed to not rat Andrea out or else she would rat me out! I didn't know she had been planting evidence against me. If I did, I would have grown a pair and told my father what I had done myself," Levi said, unable to exclaim as Evelyn hushed him down, "at that point, the police already had information against me! It was easier to take the blame than disobey Andrea only for this secret to be out too."

"People are listening, you know?" she said quietly. 

Levi waited for harsh words of hatred and judgment that he knew he deserved. However, Evelyn looked at him, as if she were waiting for him to say something, to justify himself further. 

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Levi asked, afraid. 

"What can I say? I can't say what you did was right, not when I don't know what your father did to push you to that extent. I can't bring myself to believe that Alec is capable of pushing anyone to that point. But I also can't bring myself to think you'd do that out of pure malice," Evelyn said. 

"It could be considered attempted murder," Levi said softly. 

"Oh come on, Levi. Maybe the law would see it that way but I don't. I sound really unreasonable now, don't I?"  Evelyn asked. She cringed at the way she spoke, not knowing if letting the matter slide was the right decision. 

Her entire life she had no problem discerning the good and bad. She found herself trusting the ones she knew or those whose perspectives she heard. For the first time, she witnessed something where she knew both the parties involved, neither of whom was capable of doing bad things. 

Still, there were examples right in front of her. Alec might've been a great role model to her but not a good father to Levi. She knew his toughness was coming from a place of love but she couldn't blame Levi for not seeing that. 

Levi had gone a step too far but hatred makes a man do a lot of things. Her heart believed he wasn't capable of causing real harm to anyone, let alone his father when she had seen him try to make it up to him so many times. 

"Maybe the court would see otherwise, perhaps they'll say you are in the wrong. But it really doesn't matter, does it? They're never going to know," Evelyn said. 

"Do you think I'm wrong?" Levi asked, inching closer to her. 

"Yes, but it's not that simple. It's not something I can answer with either yes or no. You are an amazing person Levi and I could never see you wanting to intentionally hurt your father," Evelyn said. 

"But I removed the wet floor sign when I saw him exit the room! I knew he was going to walk down the stair and I made sure he didn't know about the slippery floor!" he countered. 

He didn't know why he was speaking against himself, only that he wanted Evelyn to be sure of what she was saying and that she knew exactly what he was capable of. 

"It's like you want me to hate you. How about this? Touch your heart and tell me exactly what you wanted to achieve when you tried to hide the signs of the wet floor near the stairs," Evelyn said, crossing her fingers and hoping that it was an answer she could accept. 

"I wanted to hurt him, the way he hurt me with his words. But I never wanted him to fracture his spine or break anything. Even that isn't right, I know that but I wasn't thinking," he said. He took in a deep breath before facing Evelyn's eyes boldly, "I was tired of always listening to my father, letting him belittle me. I thought if I stood my case, at least I could look at myself with self-respect. I deserve to fit in with myself at least."

"Let me tell you something, Levi. What you did was incredibly mindless but you could have done worse! I find myself believing that you never really wanted to hurt him. If you did, you could have done much worse! People slip on wet floors all the time and it was just an unlucky coincidence that he did! Sure, you're the reason there weren't any precautionary signs but if I wanted to actually hurt someone, I'd do way worse," Evelyn said, "trying to fit in would be a pathetic excuse but... I see where you're coming from."

She watched him for any reaction and when he stayed quiet, she heaved in a deep breath before speaking again. 

"Since you told me so much, it's my turn. When I accidentally burned Iris' office down, her son was inside. The burns on his legs were too much, so much that he was unable to walk after that. I never wanted to ruin his life but that's what I ended up doing," 

"To be fair, your was an actual accident," Levi said. 

"But the consequences were way worse. I hate Iris and want her gone and I can see why she wants the same from me. That doesn't mean I hate her any less, just that it didn't happen out of the blue. Just like it is with your father. Don't get me wrong, the stakes are way lower but the fact remains the same - neither of you wanted to hurt the other. You thought you did but you soon realized that wasn't the case. 

"Don't get me wrong, you're incredibly stupid for doing that but it doesn't make you a bad person. And I can't see you as one, not after what you did for me."

"So?" Levi questioned, not knowing what else to say. 

"I'll work on the bail and I'll make sure you come out. I'll also work on the remaining holes in the arson case and get the boots and vials tested. Bringing it out of their home might not have been the greatest plan but I think I know what to do. I have hopes that the arson case will work in my favor," Evelyn said. 

"And what about everything I just told you?" Levi asked, hopefully. 

"Your secret is safe with me," Evelyn said, "and I'll make sure it's safe with Andrea as well."

She smoothened her sleeves as she peeked out of the door where Alec stood listlessly. She picked up her footsteps and walked toward him but Levi's words obstructed her movement. 

"I love you, Evelyn."